Patterns in the Sand

Hello

Well. the clocks have gone back and we've had a couple of frosty mornings already this week, so I guess we're dipping our toes into Winter!  I don't like it!  The only good thing about Winter is that I can dry/warm my socks on the heated towel rails!

As I've been such a bad blogger in recent months, I thought I do some catching up and try to blog some things I've not shared on here yet.  

Back at the start of Summer we went up to Northumberland for a few days staying with family in my home village.  I do count myself very lucky to have grown up at the seaside!

My village's heritage is one of fishing and mining.  Now the mines are gone and there are only a few fishing boats (cobles) left.  Mining in particular left its mark on the beach, and you can still see the coal dross washed up on the sands.  The movement of the sand, sea and tiny fragments of the coal dross makes the most amazing patterns.  I was mesmerised bu them and couldn't resist taking some photos.  It was one of these photos I used to make a background panel for my card

I cropped and resized the photo then printed it onto textured white Bazzill card, then matted it onto dark blue.  I used another of my photos for the main image.

The sentiment panel was made from several Spellbinders dies and to complete the card I covered a little wooden anchor from Bubbly Funk with black Enamel Accents and glued it in the corner, adding a gold twine knot. 

You'd never know that was sand pattern, would you? It was a beautiful sunny late afternoon when we dumped our bags after the long drive and headed across the road for a walk along the prom,  OH even took his shoes off and had a paddle (or a 'plodge' in Northumbrian!) along waters' edge.  I didn't! Because I grew up thinking that running up and down the prom to get the circulation going was part of the deal after a dip in the sea - I didn't know the sea could be warm till I went on my first Greek holiday!

 Ah well, this short post turned into more of an essay, didn't it!

So please excuse the rambling!  I'll shut up now......

Thank you so much for dropping by, have a great day

 

Glitterati!

Hello!

Here we are at Friday again.  I know I said I'd try to be a better blogger now, but this week I have an excuse as I have my lovely rellies staying for a few days!

I did get some crafting time earlier in the week though and managed to get my card for Svenja's Daring Cardmakers challenge made:

It's Svenja here with today's challenge. And as I think that we can never have too much sparkle in our lives it is: 

go glitter!

(It doesn't have to be pink, though ;-)  )

The design team members have made some shiny examples for your inspiration and you can check them out HERE

My fellow teamies are mainly getting into the Christmas spirit with their cards this week, but I still need a few birthday cards, including a couple of more masculine ones. So I thought 'Men and glitter - well, why the heck not!'

I've used a brand new stencil from Bubbly Funk to make the background for my card - these new stencils are designed by BF's Caroline especially for her store and will be available soon

Info:

Stars Stencil by Bubbly Funk (available soon)

Sparkle Medium Glitter Gel Black Diamond (I think!)

Spellbinders dies for letters cut layers in black, then pearl metallic card for the red top layer

Extra stars punched with an EK Success punch from a blue-black glitter card

Red stars pinched with another EK Success punch (has 6 tiny stars in a circle

Pretty simple card, but a bit  time-consuming with die cutting and sticking the various layers of letters together and waiting for the glitter gel to dry.  It's quite striking though, and I think I can get away with sending it to my male cousin in a couple of weeks time 😉😉

Thanks for popping by

Apple Day

Hello

We had a 'proper' Autumnal start to the day here -  it was quite foggy, with a chill in the air. 

Now that the fog has lifted, we have a beautiful blue sky and the colours of the leaves are really glowing - a complete change from the horrible grey dampness earlier in the week when it didn't seem ever to get light.  Days like today certainly lift the mood.

We have a challenge over at the Daring Cardmakers that matches the "Season of Mellow Fruitfulness" perfectly!

It's Joanne here to challenge you this week. October 21st is Apple Day here in the UK. Lots of places have apple-themed events which might include pressing juice from apples, getting gardening advice, cookery demos etc.

So, let's celebrate the humble apple this week! If you don't have anything apple-themed in your stash show us some other tree fruit - pears, peaches, plums etc.

Click here for some fruity inspiration from the design team:

 

 I thought I'd make a Get Well Soon card for this challenge, after all, an apple a day keeps the Doctor away, doesn't it!

I started by printing the sentiment directly onto the card blank then used one of my own cutting files to cut out the various parts of the apples on the Silhouette machine. They were then layered up until I was happy with the layout.  I had a few inked leaves left over from a card made a few weeks ago, so popped  them in to add more Autumn colour and extra interest

 

Info

White card blank

Navy blue card, white card

Coloured paper and thin cardstock for the apples

Own cutting file for the Silhouette

Pale grey-blue backing piece is white card, inked with a couple of Versamagic ink pads

Leaves are cut with a Spellbinders die set from the Four Seasons collection 

There are lots of lovely Fruity ideas over on the blog so I hope you'll take a minute to hop over and check them out.  We'd love you to join in with us and share your own Fruity makes!

Thanks for looking

Happy Crafting

3D Vignette Balloon Birthday

Hello!

Remember me?

It's quite a while since I did some blogging, I've struggled with all sorts of stuff over the last couple of months and finding the energy to do pretty much anything has been hard. But I'm starting to feel better (yes, I know I've said that before), and beginning to feel more like getting crafty again so I'm going to try really hard to get into blogging too.  

One thing I think is going to help get my mojo back is the new little Facebook birthday club a group of like-minded crafters have just started.  Over the years I've been involved with a few Birthday clubs on craft forums; the idea being that everyone in the group sends a lovely handmade card to everyone else in  the group when their birthday comes around.  It was such a treat to receive a beautiful bundle of handmade cards and they always looked fabulous standing on the mantelpiece!  With the sad demise of craft forums (FB just isn't the same) and the cost of postage rocketing, the birthday groups sort of disappeared.  I really missed it all, and I'm thrilled to be part of this brand new Birthday Club! 

We had the first member's birthday earlier this month and I really enjoyed getting stuck in and making this card for Lea.

I LOVE these 3D Vignette dies from Spellbinders and Becca Feeken.  They are so darned clever the way all the layers go together to make a dimensional card that then squeezes flat enough to fit into a regular envelope!

  Info

White card

 Various shades of peach card

Dies:

 

Grand Dome 3D Card - Elegant 3D Vignettes

 Shapeabilities Etched Dies

 Layered Happy Birthday Elegant 3D Vignettes

 Shapeabilities Etched Dies
 

Here's how all the layers squash down to slide it into an envelope - though you need to remember that they are US card sized so you may have to hunt out a UK envelope that fits, or get that WRMK envelope maker board out and make your own!  I think I used a 15cm square envelope and folded down a bit at the top so the card didn't move around too much inside.

I was hoping there would be some new designs coming out to extend this rnage - wouldn't something Christmassy to put in the frame be lovely!  I've not seen or heard anything though.

So there you go, a new blog post at last, and the Birthday Club is a lovely new project to be involved with with - I'll enjoy sending out cards to the others, and be very excited by the time my turn to be on the receiving end comes around next September!

 

Whilst I am feeling better and more positive, I do feel I need to be more relaxed about my crafting for a while so I've made the tricky decision to step down from Bubbly Funk DT, at least for a while.  I'll still be using some of the lovely things from the BF shop though - especially as there are lots of lovely and exclusive new things coming out that you won't be able to buy anywhere else!

Anyway, enough waffling for today.  Thank you for visiting and for listening!!

Back soon with something new for the Daring Cardmakers

Glorious October Elemental Inspiration

Hello

Hope you've had a good week - once more I've been a rubbish blogger; I have been quite busy this week but with a bit of luck things will calm down soon and I'll to get caught up again soon.

At least I've managed to get here and blog this card for Dawn's Daring Cardmakers Elemental Inspiration Challenge

"Its Dawn here hosting this weeks challenge and as its the first Friday of the month I have picked a beautiful elemental inspiration picture for you.

Remember you need to pick at least three elements and include these on your creation."

Well obviously those colours were just too gorgeous not to use as one of my 'elements', I decided to use the layout of the mood board as element 2 and then the bottle (top row, 2nd image) and a spray of Autumn leaves from the centre image - then I threw in a few Autumn leaves for good measure!

Info:
I started by using Distress Inks to add the colours to a piece of white card, then die cut the squares from the bits I liked best to create the grid pattern.  For the centre piece I matted some plain white card onto some gold card.
For the bottle I used a couple of DIs to get a good colour, then die cut the bottle shape using a Chianti bottle die (with the top cut off).  The bottle was then coated with Glossy Accents and left to dry
For the leaves I started with a piece of dull yellow Bazzill card, then added the orange, red and a little brown ink before cutting the leaf sprigs.  I like the way you get a more natural look to the colours doing it this way - and as I can't colour in for toffee this technique usually works well for me! 
From the spare card I cut a few extra leaves to finish it off

  That's it for this time, I hope you'll visit the BLOG to see the gorgeous cards the team have made using this picture as their inspiration - it always amazes me what everyone finds to use, and there's always something I never noticed!
Happy Crafting